Thermal oxidizer with gasifier

Abstract

A manufacturing apparatus for producing products results in solid waste and organic waste disposed in an air stream. The organic waste is subject to oxidation by a thermal oxidizer receiving the air stream from the manufacturing apparatus for oxidizing the organic waste. The thermal oxidizer includes a clean air outlet for venting the oxidized air stream to the atmosphere. A gasifier receives solid waste from the manufacturing apparatus for gasifying the solid waste and producing synthetic gas. The synthetic gas is introduced to the thermal oxidizer for providing additional thermal energy to the thermal oxidizer reducing the amount of fossil fuel required to provide thermal energy to the thermal oxidizer that is necessary for oxidizing the organic waste disposed in said air stream.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This is a non-provisional application that claims priority to a provisional application Ser. No. 61 / 032,765 filed on Feb. 29, 2008 and incorporated herewith by reference in its entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention is directed generally to a manufacturing apparatus having a regenerative thermal oxidizer making use of a combined gasifier. More particularly, the present invention is related to a method of reducing the amount of fossil fuel generated carbon dioxide vented to the atmosphere by operating a regenerative thermal oxidizer by reducing the amount of fossil fuel required to operate the regenerative thermal oxidizer through the addition of carbon neutral synthetic gas generated by an integrated gasifier.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]It is well known that manufacturing processes produce waste byproducts harmful to the environment. These waste byproducts come in various forms, including aerosol, particulate, gaseous and solids. Fo...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008]A manufacturing apparatus that produces products resulting in both solid waste and organic waste exposed in air stream includes a thermal oxidizer that receives the air stream from the manufacturing apparatus for oxidizing the organic waste disposed in the air stream. The thermal oxidizer includes a clean-air outlet for venting the oxidized air stream to the atmosphere. A gasifier receives solid wastes from the manufacturing apparatus, or other unrelated apparatus, and gasifies the solid waste producing a synthetic gas. The synthetic gas is introduced to the thermal oxidizer for providing additional thermal energy to the thermal oxidizer to reduce the amount of fossil fuel required to provide thermal energy to the thermal oxidizer. Therefore, heat generated from the synthetic gas derived from the solid waste is used to provide energy to the thermal oxidizer to reduce the organic waste to carbon dioxide and water.

[0009]The combination of the gasifier to convert the solid waste byproduct to a fuel source and the RTO used to convert the energy source to carbon dioxide and water during pollution abatement provides the benefit of both cost efficiency and the replacement of fossil fuel generated CO2 vented to the environment, believed to contribute to global warming, with carbon neutral CO2 from gasified biomass. It is anticipated that a balanced manufacturing operation will significantly reduce or eliminate the necessity of fossil fuel required to operate an RTO. More than just a cost reduction, the benefit is that unnecessary CO2 from burning the fossil fuel will not be vented to the atmosphere. Should carbon offsets become necessary in the future, the inventive process set forth above will enable the manufacturing operator to pay only offset taxes resultant from the manufacturing process and not those associated with burning fossil fuels.

Problems solved by technology

It is well known that manufacturing processes produce waste byproducts harmful to the environment.

However, even the RTO requires mass consumption of fossil fuel to generate the necessary BTUs to oxidize the pollutants produced by the industrial process.

Images